Many types of packers are used in wellbores to isolate specific wellbore regions. A packer is delivered downhole on a conveyance and expanded against the surrounding wellbore wall to isolate a region of the wellbore. Once set against the surrounding wellbore wall, the packer can be subjected to substantial heat, pressures and forces. Consequently, flexible rubber packer layers can undergo undesirable extrusion which has a detrimental effect on the function of the packer.
Some inflatable packers are reinforced with metallic cables. For example, anti-extrusion layers may be constructed with metallic cables for cooperation with mechanical layers. Each packer layer tends to be made of materials having different properties causing differences in behavior when the packer is heated or inflated. Additionally, such packers tend to be complex to design and manufacture. Attempts have been made to design packers with fibers to strengthen specific packer layers. However such fibers often must be laid at increasing angles, relative to the axis of the packer, toward the packer extremities to ensure self locking. In some applications, this approach can result in an undesirable build-up of fibers at the packer extremity. Additionally, metallic wedges are sometimes required in the mechanical extremity to secure longitudinal ends of the fiber layers, however these wedges can be aggressive to fibers under load.